Creating an Effective Newsletter

Newsletters are the best way to generate sales and will be for years to come. It is critical that you offer a FREE subscription to a newsletter on your web site and every person you meet. Your subscription information should be on your web site and in your signature file.

People that subscribe to your newsletter will become very loyal customers as long as you show them you are honest, credible, and that you know what you are talking about. They will not only buy from you now, but they will buy from you in the future, because you built a good rapport with them.

You may be thinking, "I don’t have a newsletter." Well, you will want one because they bring in tons of cash if you use them right. Think about this situation:

Someone is surfing the web for accounting software and comes across your web site, and you happen to be selling the software they need. If you don’t stir their interest in the first few seconds, they will be gone.

But what about this situation:

This person surfs to your web site and sees the offer of a free monthly newsletter on tax tips and accounting software shortcuts. They sign up, which retains the person’s interest in your site a little longer and get them interacting with it. Even if they move on you have their email address so you can send them your newsletter and other offers each month.

Remember, as you get subscribers for your newsletter, they are potential clients whom you have built credibility with. By doing this you have established a base to which to offer your other products and services.

Ok, you may ask, I know I have to create a newsletter. What should I call the newsletter? The name you come up with should tie into what you are providing at your site. It should highlight you as an expert in your field of endeavor.

The information contained within could consist of the following:

* Industry news or updates * Info related to the product/service you are marketing * Articles you have compiled from other sources (with permission, of course) * Special tips * A compiled list of interesting Web sites to visit * New product announcements * Announcements about changes/updates/additions to your Web site * Questions and answers from subscribers * A reader feedback section * Special prices and promotions for newsletter subscribers only * Conduct a survey to get feedback from your clients * Humorous stories related to your industry * Famous quotes, funny sayings, joke of the day, etc. * Employee of the month or top sales person of the month * Spotlight on a member, reader, or customer

…etc….

Of course, no matter what you put in the newsletter make sure you put in a blurb about one of your products and/or services.

By providing your subscribers with the exact information they need, you will:

Establish your credibility as an industry expert. Answer their questions and solve their problems and your subscribers will begin to see you as an industry expert and trust you. Increase your traffic by making your Web site "sticky." People will see your site as a valuable resource - instead of some site that's trying to sell them something - so they'll come back again and again.

Give yourself a legitimate reason to contact them over and over again.

A newsletter creates the perfect opportunity to send your subscribers articles that contain valuable information, as well as brief plugs for your product or service.

Because subscribers see you as a source of valuable information - not as a salesperson - they'll be grateful for your tips and advice and more open to any offers you present them with.

If you don't consider yourself a writer, fear not. You can go to the following Web sites where there are free articles you can use. Just make sure to include the author's name at the end of the article. Give credit where credit is do.

http://list-resources.com

http://www.web-source.net/articles/

http://ezinearticles.com

http://www.ideamarketers.com

http://www.mediapeak.com

To run a newsletter you need a place or person to run it. One such company or site is Listserve or Majordomo. You can go to http://www.listserve.com for this service or just type in majordomo in any search engine.

The second way to run a newsletter is through a program called Group Mail (http://www.infacta.com). With Group Mail, you can run the newsletter yourself. Group Mail will automatically subscribe, unsubscribe, and send out your monthly newsletter.

You can also offer it as a paid subscription newsletter. Some people charge up to $200 a year for their newsletter. If you have something of great value that people really can’t get elsewhere, they will pay you for it. I know someone who offers a tip of the day newsletter for $3.00 a year. He has over 547,000 subscribers. Here merely spends one day to write all 30 tips for the month, uploads them to his list server, which automatically distributes them each day for him and he rakes in a cool $1,641,000 a year. Just for one day of work. Not bad, right!

When you run a newsletter, you can decide on whether to have it as a weekly, monthly, or yearly newsletter. Most common types of newsletters are published, printed, and mailed out every month. In the case of the Internet and e-zines, you don’t have printing cost or postage cost. All you need is your email program and a dial-up account to get online.

The components that make up a newsletter should include the following guidelines:

Header/Footer In every issue, you should include the name of the newsletter, the date, or volume number, the issue title, and your contact information. Use the footer to include your contact information.

Table of Contents This organizes your newsletter and lets the reader decide what particular articles or sections they are interested in reading without having to scroll through pages of information.

Articles and Information Make sure your entire newsletter has been formatted to 65 characters per line to ensure that your formatting remains consistent throughout all e-mail clients.

Teasers Consider mentioning what will be covered in the next issue so that your readers will look forward to receiving it.

Use Dividers to Separate Sections Some examples of section dividers might be:

Dots ……………………………….

Underscores _______________________

Asterisks *************************

Dashes --------------------------------------

Equal sings ====================

Advertisement Placement If you have a sponsor, or classified ads, you need to decide where to place them in your newsletter so that they yield successful results that will please the advertiser but not make your newsletter look like one large advertisement.

Make it Easy to Unsubscribe If you plan on distributing a newsletter via e-mail on the Internet you must give your subscribers the option to unsubscribe on each and every newsletter you send out. This is the law.

Choose a Subject Line that Works If you want your newsletter to be a success, then it's critical that you keep your subject line consistent. By keeping your subject line consistent, your subscribers will eventually get to know your newsletter just by reading your subject line, decreasing the chances of it being accidentally deleted as spam.

Every month when we send out our free "How-to" Newsletter, we use the exact same subject line that reads:

Subject: !*USERNAME*!, your July Issue of How-to Newsletter is ready

Where username is the first part of the person's email address. This way we have a way to personalize the e-mail in case we don't have their first name.

How Often Should You Send Out Your Newsletter? This depends on you and the time you have to devote to it. My newsletter has always been a monthly newsletter. This way I am not crammed, like I would if I were producing a weekly issue.

Choosing Length As long as you are providing unique and quality content in an easy to read and easy to follow format, your newsletters can be up to 10 page in length. Beyond 10 pages, you will lose your readers. I keep mine about 4 to 6 pages long.

Creating the newsletter is one big hurtle but now comes an even bigger hurtle -attracting subscribers. Make sure to create a web page devoted to your newsletter including subscription information and anything else that is needed. Then have a link from your main page to that page. Even have a link from all your other pages to your newsletter page. This way they will see your subscription offer everywhere.

Another way is to post an offer for a free subscription in related newsgroups.

Offer a free subscription in related email discussion lists, emails, classified ads, in forums and BBS postings, and in your signature file. Create press releases to get publicity for your newsletter.

Here are a few ways to attract attention to your newsletter:

1. Promote your newsletter on your Web site 2. E-mail signatures 3. Classified ad swapping 4. Newsgroup postings 5. Gift subscriptions 6. Clubs and organizations 7. Discussion lists and forums 8. Renting opt-in e-mail lists 9. Surveying for subscribers 10. The power of co-registration

As I said before newsletters are very good and powerful. Create one and use it to great advantage. You’ll be glad you did.

Harry is a freelance writer, computer consultant, and Internet marketer. His writing projects include ghostwriting, copywriting, web site content, DTP, editing, and technical writing. His computer consulting work includes installation, setup, and troubleshooting computer systems. His credits include articles for Internet Day, Internet World, Advertising Today, Advertising Age, L-Advertising, Computer Edge, and a host of others. Harry recently published a book on computer repair and copywriting. You can check out his samples and what he offers at his site by going to http://www.writeformedia.com/portfolio.htm.

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